So, like at least 74 million of my fellow Americans out there, I wasn’t thrilled with how this past election turned out. That actually may be the most understated sentence I’ve written on this blog. My actual thoughts drift closer to “Holy hell, how did we end up here again?”
I’m not the only person thinking that. There is no shortage of pundits out there who, despite how wrong they may have been about how the election was going to go, now confidently turn back and say “It was clear because of [insert reason here] that Kamala Harris was going to lose.” In my opinion, the best immediate reaction was Jon Stewart’s:
So I’m not here to claim to be the smartest person in the room. Heck, right now the only one sharing the room with me is a cat – and he definitely seems more on top of his life than I do at this moment. That said, I do pay a lot of attention to what goes on in the world – and I watched Joe Biden’s performance with great interest.
For the record, I think Joe Biden did a f*ck ton of good things he currently does not get enough credit for, including but not limited to:
- The Inflation Reduction Act which allows, among many other things, the government to finally negotiate to lower drug prices again
- The CHIPS Act, which will greatly help the American semiconductor industry lead in AI development
- Making history by being the first sitting president to join a picket line and support striking autoworkers
- Overseeing and supporting the largest growth in Unions since the 1970s
- Overseeing and supporting a record surge in small business growth
All that’s pretty good, right? Not to say there weren’t dark spots – I mean, that’s the point of this article. For the record, I’m going to focus more on flaws that were present from day one and not specific policies. That said, I must mention Biden’s disastrous response to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war of aggression in the Middle East, which has led to a horrific humanitarian crisis and shows no signs of slowing down. Holy hell, way to leave innocents to die, Joe.
But this incident happened in the final year and a half of Biden’s presidency and, while definitely helping to aid the return of Donald Trump, is not – in my view – the reason many in America fear for the future. So let’s talk about the three biggest failures of Joe Biden’s presidency, starting at number three and working our way up.
Biden’s Ego
Everyone who runs for President of the United States has an ego. I mean, you’d have to – right? We’re a nation of over 350 million people and if you’re sitting here going “I bet I could make this place better” then you have a healthy opinion of yourself. Nothing wrong with that.
The issue comes when the thinking changes from “I bet I could make this place better” to “Only I can make this place better.” While many focused on Trump’s ego – as he has made this statement or statements like it throughout his political career, he is not unique.
In fact, I would argue things turned significantly worse for America’s future when, in April 2023, Joe Biden announced his re-election bid. AT 80 years old, Joe Biden felt confident he was the best person to be president of the United States for the next six years. More than that, there was a central message emanating from the Biden campaign: Only Joe Biden can beat Trump. This was gospel despite every bit of external data suggesting that the American public wanted someone else. Heck, the Biden-Trump rematch was the most poorly anticipated presidential election in decades, and that is saying something.
When Joe Biden ran in 2020, he told Americans he would be the bridge to a new generation of leadership. He was almost 78 when he said that, so please forgive the most of us who assumed that statement did not imply a two-term bridge.
Ego is one of those aspects of personality that must be kept in balance. Biden was fine when he believed he could beat Trump. The situation soured the minute he believed that, not only was he the only one who could beat Donald Trump, the majority of Americans really wanted him to try again.
Merrick Garland and the Gaslighting of America
A president is judged by their cabinet. The complexities and vastness of America are simply too much for any one person to handle. Given the extraordinary first presidency of Donald Trump, which climaxed in a despicable attempted insurrection on January 6th, a crime that unfolded on national TV, across social media, and in full view of everyone. We all saw it happen, from start to finish.
For this crime to remain an anomaly, swift and decisive justice would be needed on every level. Trump needed to be held accountable for his role – as did every other mastermind not physically arrested in the nation’s capital.
So, Joe Biden nominated Merrick Garland, the once-spurned supreme court nominee, to lead this effort. And what happened? Absolutely nothing for more than a year. Garland resisted and delayed at every turn, not wanting to seem eager or partisan in his approach to Trump’s blatant misdeeds. When finally – FINALLY – pressured by the January 6th committee, Garland finally lurched into action… by nominating someone else to actually… do the action.
Yes, despite happening on January 6th, 2021, the case into Trump’s corruption didn’t fully begin until November 18th, 2022, when Garland appointed government corruption specialist Jack Smith to oversee all Trump’s potential misdeeds in one clump. Because nothing says speed or efficiency like giving multiple cases of work to one person.
So, rather than beginning on day one – the most important prosecution of Biden’s presidency didn’t start in earnest until after the mid-terms. From there on, the inevitable delays pushed the cases into the election cycle, where Garland’s efforts to depoliticize the investigations exploded in his face.
You cannot blame the public for shrugging at January 6th when your own Attorney General had to be peer pressured into doing his job. The failure of Merrick Garland may well reverberate for decades to come. And, when the buck stops at the top, the failure of Merrick Garland is just another way of saying the failure of Joe Biden.
Communication (or the one lesson to learn from Donald Trump)
Sometimes you know there will be problems from day one, and I still remember watching the inauguration of Joe Biden and going “uh oh.” On the surface, nothing bad happened. Biden did as he promised. Right after taking the Oath of Office, he signed a flurry of executive actions – on camera. The move was mundane. He sat down at his desk, took out his pen, and just did it. The tone was clearly “Americans elected me to do a job and I’m here to do it. No fuss.”
Except, that’s not how a politician leads in today’s climate. The 21st century is on beset by information. It flies at us all the time from practically every direction. You can find news on TV, on your computers, on your phones. At a time when everyone was shouting, Biden seemed very content to quietly do his work, without making any signs of showmanship or posturing.
Trump, by contrast, would have grandstanded each of those accomplishments, as well as the many others that came over the four years. This is the one area where Donald Trump should be emulated. The man knows how to show off. He’s not the first politician or president to do it, but Trump excels at communication. Case in point, we’re about to hear that the economy is actually awesome and that everything is going great. That switch will come, day one, in January 2025. Nothing will have actually changed, mind you – but that won’t stop Trump.
Whether due to his age, his stutter, or just his disposition, Biden was unwilling or unable to meet the communication challenge of modern America. His administration seemed opaque and muffled – as if it were trying to hide something. Even before the 2024 election, Biden gave few interviews and made infrequent media appearances. When he did speak, it was through exclusively traditional channels.
And, when it came time to strut his stuff, Biden failed to effectively tell the American public what he’d done – with the exception of a pretty decent State of the Union address. The lack of communication, however, was not the only issue.
Biden appeared as isolated as Trump from the criticisms of his presidency, dismissing much of it as mere partisanship. The inflation crisis that gripped America was never properly addressed. In fact, Biden – at multiple times throughout the last year – championed the economy, talking about how amazing it was. On many levels – he was right. In 2024, America’s economy has been seen as the envy of the world. The stock market is strong, job growth robust. Hurray… right?
By missing (or perhaps refusing to see) how much inflation was hurting people, Biden’s messaging felt off. Unfortunately, this messaging was largely passed on to Kamala Harris’ campaign during its mad 100-day dash to try to salvage victory. Too little was changed, too late. With a more savvy communicator in the White House, who knows what would have been different?
America now faces a very uncertain future. Even many of those who voted for Trump don’t appear to know what exactly they’ve gotten themselves into. Google searches into “what is a tariff” have spiked following the election and many companies are preparing for the worst. As always, pundits and “experts” have a take.
As for me, this is my two cents on Biden. I promise I’ll be writing about plenty of non-political things in the future but well, I have kids and I care. I hope I’m wrong, that’s all I’ll say. Unfortunately – I’ve said it before… and I wasn’t. But for now, the horse was hired back into the hospital.
Colin McMahon 